Category: Research

Since Clay Siegall was a young man, he’s been interested in medicine and technology. The idea of overcoming the dark fate of some of nature’s cruelest diseases always thrilled him. In a way, technology and medicine allow people to defy what otherwise condemns them to death.

That passion drives Dr. Clay Siegall to this day. Even more, Dr. Siegall once watched as a family member was taken away by cancer. While his college, a family got sick. The thing that disgusted Siegall more than the cancer was the treatment regimen, which he found overly brutal. At one point, that family member nearly died from their chemotherapy.

From that day on, Clay Siegall wanted to find a better way to treat disease. Unfortunately, the drug development industry is a pricey industry. With great financial cost comes great financial gain, and that means some people are out to get paid.

The first company Dr. Siegall worked at was solely focused on profits, or at least it felt that way. They showed very little respect to their dedicated researchers. Dr. Seigall, a senior researcher, has limited authority over the autonomy of his projects. The ownership even used some of his patents to make millions and shared very little, if any, of the profits with him.

After feeling disrespected for so long, Dr. Siegall founded Seattle Genetics. Even though he was now his own boss, the cost of the drug development industry still loomed over him. It’s just a fact of today’s society; money makes the world go round.

Fortunately, Dr. Siegall and his team are brilliant. One of the first drugs they developed proved more than profitable. It was the first FDA-approved antibody drug conjugate. It earned the company much of its initial funding. The downside of developing that drug was getting it approved in the first place.

Getting a candidate drug approved costs more than a lot. It’s estimated that only one out of ten candidate drugs get approved, but the drug makers still have the pay the entire bill.